■/^F75 



(^l^LA^lH^^O C^CUOti^ 






You are earnestly asked to hand this after reading to some 
other person who will also give it careful consideration 



THE 



COST or WAR AND WARf ARE 



TO JUNE 30, 1903 



EXTENDED BY ESTIMATE TO DEC. 31, 1903 



EDWARD ATKINSON 



PUBLISHED BY 
THE NEW ENGLAND ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE 

44 KIT. BY STREET, BOSTON, MASS. 
1903 



£7/3 



Gift 

<*en. W. Bimey 

N 2 '06 



The Cost of War and Warfare. 



The cost of war and warfare from 1898 to 1903 inclu- 
sive has been over nine hundred million dollars ($900,- 
000,000). The cost of the war with Spain and of the^ 
warfare upon the people of tlie Philippine Islands to the 
end of the last fiscal year, June 30, 1903, had been over 
eight hundred and fifty million dollars ($850,000,000),--, 
an addition in that fiscal year to the previous charge upon 
the taxpayers of 4his country of not less than one hun- 
dred and fifty million dollars ($150,000,000). This 
charge is increasing rather than diminishing. At the 
end of the present calendar year, Dec. 31, 1903, we shall 
have expended in war and warfare not less than nine 
hundred and twenty million dollars ($920,000,000), which 
sum will be slightly in excess of the outstanding bonded 
debt of the United States bearing interest. Of this sum 
about three hundred million dollars ($300,000,01 0) is 
commonly assigned to the cost of the war with Spain. 
There are no exact data outside the government accounts 
by which this can be apportioned. 

Over six hundred million dollars ($600,000,000) uK.y 
be charged by taxpayers to the effort to deprive the peo- 
ple of the Philippine Islands of their liberty. The excess 
of the expenditures of this country, due to the warfare in 
the Philippine Islands with the cost of the increase in the 



it'i^iilar army mid other expenditures engendered by niili 
tarisni during the fiscal year ending June 30. 11)03, varitd 
hut a fraction from two dollars (S2) per head of the pop- 
ulation. 

By dealing with the ollicial tigiiies for the year ending 
June 30, 11)03, we may find the exact direction of the 
waste of taxpayers' monc}' in one more year of oppression 
ill the Philippines, of the refusal of liberty, and of futile 
efforts to redress wrongs previously committed. 

The conduct of the work of imposing a form of gov- 
ernment upon these people without their consent has 
l)een administered by able and upright men who have 
used their utmost effort to overcome the evil inherent in 
the conditions. The pretext of develo[)iug commerce by 
holding dominion over these islands has ceased to im- 
pose upon intelligent iK'ople. All that we import from 
the Philippines we may continue to import, whoever holds 
them, — the principal article, hemp, being free of duty. 
I Our insignificant exports have fallen off with the with- 
drawal of a part of the troops and with the increasing 
disability on the part of the inhabitants to buy even 
articles of necessity, such being the poverty and distress 
which our rule has brought upon them. The proof of 
those statements is submitted in the subsequent form, all 
the figures being derived from the official reports of the 
govornmeni. 

For twenty years, from June 30, 1878, to June 30, 
1898, covering the administrations of Hayes, Arthur, 
Ulevehiiid (liibt), Harrison, and Cleveland (second), the 
average animal expenditures on the diffiient branches of 
governiiieiit service |)er capita were as follows: 



i^^^^prr^^^tf^i^^ 



Civil service, including Indians and postal de 

ficiency ...... 

War Department, including fortifications and 

otiier similar works .... 
Navy Department, including tbe construction of 

what was known as the '• New Navy" . 
Intel est on ihe public debt 
Pensions, including the very heavy increase 

during the term of President Harrison . 

Average .... 



$1.48 
.75 

.35 

.90 

1.52 

$5.00 



The expenditures in five years of war and warfare 
under Piesidents McKinley and Roosevelt were as fol- 
lows (annual average) : 
Civil service $1.58 



War Department 
Navy Department 
Interest . 
Pensions . 

Average 



1.90^1 
.80 ) 

1.86 



i.61 



During the last fiscal year, ending June 30, the ex- 
penditures have been as follows (during a year of so- 
called peace) : 

Civil service $1.77 

War Department 
Navy Department 

Interest .36 

Pensions . . . . . . . . 1.72 



1.03;' ^- 



.35 



An excess over the normal of twenty years of peace, 
order, and industry of one dollar and thirty-five cents 
($1.35) per head. 



^/> 



6 



lint this does not sliow the whole case. During the 
twenty years piiurto the Spanish war the cost of pensions 
and interest was two dollars and fifty-two cents (S2.52) 
per head. Had it not been for debts incurred and pen- 
sions to so-called Spanish war veterans, these charges, 
wiiich had been reduced to two dollars and eight cents 
($2.08) per head, would not have exceeded one dollar 
and eighty-eight cents ($1.88) in the last fiscal year, the 
falling in of pensions through lapse of time now moving 
on with accelerating speed. 

These diflfereuces per head may seem to be of trifling 
importance, but when computed on the population of 
June 30, 1903, the customary factor by which expendi- 
tures are distributed by the Treasury l)ei)artment, 

The excess of expenditure in tlie civil 

service at twenty-nine (29) cents per 

head comes to $23,316,000 

The excess of expenditure on the army 

at seventy-two (72) cents per head . o7, 888, 000 

The excess of expenditure on the navy 

at sixty-eight (G8) cents per head . 54,672,000 



The total of actual excess of expenditure 

during the warfare in the Philippine 

Islands, and the tendency to militarism 

in the fiscal year ending June 30, 11)03 135,^76,000 
If to this Ite added twenty (20) cents |)er 

head, by which the interest and |)cnsion 

charge would have been diminished 

except for war and warfare . . 16,080,000 



We find that the waste in war and war- 
fare in the last fiscal year was a trac- 
tion less than $152,000,000 



The present tendency is to increase rather than to 
diminish, and when the expenditures of the present six 
months ending Dec 31, 1903, are audited, the proof 
will be complete that the cost of the war with Spain, 
which a strong administration would have avoided, and 
the "criminal aggression" upon the people of the Philip- 
pine Islands, which a weak administration brought upon 
the countr}', will have cost the taxpayers nine hundred 
and twenty million dollars (S920,000,000), a sura slightly 
larger than the entire bonded debt of the United States, 
bearing interest, now outstanding. 

The pretext of expansion of commerce in the East in 
justification of closing the door to trade in the Philippine 
Islands to other nations while strenuously urging the 
open door in China and other parts of Asia has been ex- 
posed and now excites only derision. In the computation 
of the cost of war and warfare to June 30, 1902, it 
proved that we had been paying for five years one dol- 
lar and five cents ($1.05) per head of our population 
to secure an export which had amounted to six and 
one-half (6J) cents per head, on whii-h there might 
have been a profit to some one at the rate of one cent 
per head of the whole population. The figures of the 
last year are even more grotesque. The cost of crim- 
inal aggression in the Philippine Islands during the fiscal 
year ending June 30, 1903, was not less than one dol- 
lar and a quarter ($1.25) per head, after making any 
allowance that any reasonable man could make for the 
alleged necessity of increasing the army of the United 
States and building battle-ships to meet other contin- 
gencies. The exports from the United States to the 
Philippine Islands have fallen off to less than five cents 



per Iio:i<l of our |)oi»iilatioii : liad there been a profit equal 
tn one cent on the live cents they would not have fallen 

off. 

\Ve are still wasting the lives and health of American 
soldiers and continuing to bring poverty and want upon 
the people of the Philippine Islands under the pretence of 
" benevolent assimilation." 

The effort to suppress the evidence of torture, devasta- 
tion, and ruin brought upon the people of these islands 
has failed, the facts of "criminal aggression" have been 
proved In this statement the cost in money to the tax- 
payers of the United States is now submitted. 

KDWAlv'l) ATKINSON. 
Boston, Mass . Oct. 9, l'.)0:{. 



HBRARY OF CONGRESS 



01 



3744 703 4 ♦ 



Hollinger 

pH 8.5 

MiU Run H)3-2193 



